Fattore grew up in
Valparaiso, Indiana. She graduated from
Columbia University in 1990 as an English major. Her classmates included television writers
Jeff Rake and
Academy Award-winning film producer
Dede Gardner. After college, she worked at the
New York Public Library's fundraising office under Judy Daniels, whose son
Greg Daniels would later become creator of
The Office. She was encouraged by her then boss to work for her son as an assistant. Fattore accepted the job and relocated to
Los Angeles and began her career in the entertainment industry. She wrote the episode titled "
True Love," in which a scene showing a crying
Dawson Leery became the subject of a longstanding internet meme. She went on to work on other hit series and became a co-producer and writer of such hit TV shows as
Gilmore Girls, Parenthood, and
Californication. In 2012, she signed an overall deal with
Universal TV to produce content for the channel and sold a multi-cultural family drama titled
Holiday to the network. In April 2020, she published a novel titled
The Spinster Diaries, which follows the life of a fictional
Los Angeles television writer as she navigates work, love life, and the diagnosis of a benign tumor that drew parts of the plot from her own life. In August 2020, Fattore signed an overall deal with
Universal Content Productions to create and develop scripted fare for all platforms for the studio. == Filmography ==